Graeme Stanway

Large resource development projects can often be held captive to decisions made in the early stages of development when outlook is most uncertain. Embedding optionality into the design of such projects allows for alternate development pathways when major assumptions change. Not only does this allow a business to adapt, but it can also bring about…

Many of my professional and personal experiences have taught me that risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. The current covid-19 crisis will be no exception. I have learnt – often the hard way – that being prepared for major events is first about ensuring the resilience to survive, and having pre-considered…

As a highly uncertain and rapidly evolving crisis, covid-19 is laying bare everyday business priorities like improvement, optimisation and transformation. Over the past weeks, most businesses have moved from interest to concern to full-blown crisis management as the full extent and likely duration of the pandemic’s associated economic shutdown has become clearer. Many executives, particularly…

In a world first, Australian researchers at global management consulting firm VCI have uncovered the direct relationship between innovation strategies and total shareholder return in the mining industry, the results of which have been published in the global report – State of Play: Delivering strategy and innovation. Through interviews, survey and deep analysis of 399…

A new wave of business creation has emerged in the last 5 years, nearly a decade and a half after the emergence of the first big internet based companies. Over this relatively short period we have seen a rapid increase in the number of unlisted start-ups valued over 1 billion dollars which are less than ten years old, or “Unicorns” as they are frequently referred to.

Established resources companies are facing significant risk through the strategic choices that they will be making over the next few years. Since the end of the China-driven resources boom, most miners have spent the past 5 years aggressively cutting costs and focusing on productivity, while at the same time enjoying strengthening commodity prices.

Digitization – or more precisely the abundance of data through cheap sensing and the ability of advances in computational power and artificial intelligence to transform decision making – is one of the most disruptive forces that businesses have seen, particularly in relation to competitive business models.

We have recently been heavily engaged in our on-going “Innovation State of Play” series, where from 2015 we have been interviewing 15 global CEO’s. This “view from the C suite” follows on from 2014 where more than 260 executives and managers were surveyed across the globe. In talking with the leaders in the industry, it…

People naturally abhor uncertainty. Psychologists put this down to an ancient evolutionary trait where uncertainty often meant unacceptable exposure to mortal danger – typically in the form of some unseen carnivorous threat. Translating forward to modern day business and this trait is not as useful as it once was, particularly in medium to longer term…

The massive drop in iron ore prices has seemingly caught everyone by surprise and firm expectations of about 1.1 billion tonnes of crude steel production from China now seem unlikely. Given value creation in the resources industry is heavily influenced by the navigation of cycles, understanding these miscalculations is very useful.